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From: chefitz@harvard.ARPA (Harry Chefitz)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: Re: Israeli basketball players
Message-ID: <98@harvard.ARPA>
Date: Sun, 5-May-85 17:56:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: harvard.98
Posted: Sun May  5 17:56:46 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 7-May-85 21:03:27 EDT
References: <25469@lanl.ARPA>
Distribution: net
Organization: Aiken Computation Laboratory, Harvard
Lines: 27

>      Unlike most American Jews, I do not get my information about current
>      Jewish events from Sports Illustrated or People Magazine.  The basketball
>      scandal has had extensive coverage in the Israeli press (which I read).
>      I refer anyone interested in the details to these newspapers.
> bill peter                               ihnp4!lanl!wkp

Thanks Bill for side-stepping the question I asked you.  No, I do not
read Sports Illustrated for current Jewish events.  In fact, I too had read
about this issue before finding it in SI.  The SI quote was used because
that is the article that was being discussed on the net.

The question asked was: How can one use this issue as proof that religious
rule in the matter of conversions will lead to evil?

I see this as a conversion scandal, not a basketball scandal!  I don't care
if the rabbis involved call themselves orthodox, conservative or reform. They
are low-lifes in my book! But the fact of the matter is that these basketball
players were allowed into Israel as Jews.  The whole matter could have
been avoided if the only conversions recognized were halachic ones.  Then
these basketball players would have been told that they were not Jews
BEFORE they became integrated into Israeli society.

-- 
Harry H. Chefitz

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